The Silence After the Storm
by Samiferal
Summary: What happened between 2x15 "Revelations" and 2x16 "Fear and Loathing"? ...Dr. Reid needs his friends Morgan and JJ more than ever. Cute little fluffy story set in a hotel in Georgia, with slight JJ/Reid references, but no real pairing. No OCs.
1. Second

**So, I wrote this a while ago and I was like, nah, I'll delete it later, and now I re-read it and I actually quite like it. After watching the divine Criminal Minds episode "Revelations" I kept wondering what happened right after it ended, like after that scene where Reid walks off with the Dilaudid. This is the result of my pondering. There is a slight indication of some JJ/Reid, but I don't intend to make it a romance or relationship. I just love their awkward best-friendship. **

**More chapters will follow - Let me know what y'all think?**

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JJ and the rest of the team had gathered on the empty street. It was pitch-black around them, and the humid air seemed unusually cold considering that they were in Georgia. For once, JJ didn't feel in control of the situation. She had no idea what would happen now. Were they going to fly home immediately or were they going to stay here one more night?

She felt empty and shaken. Their desperate search for Tobias Hankel was over; the adrenaline was gone. For two days, nobody had thought about anything else. For two days, nobody had slept, all of them watching the dozens of computer screens in Hankel's room in horror.

And now it was over. And yet of course JJ knew that the relief was only temporary. There would be new cases to come. There would be more blood; there would be new religious fanatics. And this case would not be forgotten easily.

She leant her body against the Suburban, shivering in the cold. Before she could sink into her dark thoughts any deeper, Gideon emerged from the forest with Reid. JJ's heart fell at his sight. In the middle of the graveyard where they had found the young doctor she hadn't been able to see a lot, but now the scenery was lighted dimly by a lonely streetlight.

Reid looked… exhausted. Terribly tired and worn. He was walking with a bad limp, and his pants were covered in soil. His arms were crossed in front of his abdomen. And JJ could only imagine how cold he had to be in his thin shirt and sweater vest. When he staggered a little, she felt the urge to rush over and hug him again.

Instead, Morgan came over and softly touched Reid's arm.

"Hey, Kid."

Reid looked up and managed a small smile for his best friend. JJ felt a sweet ache in her chest when Morgan took of his black leather jacket and put it around Reid's shoulders.

"Kid, listen, you're gonna be alright. We're gonna get you out of here."

Gratefully, the brunette wrapped the over-sized jacket around his shivering shape. Hotch came over from were he was standing next to his SUV.

"Reid, do you want us to call an ambulance?"

After thinking for a second, Reid shook his head. A little hoarsely, he asked, "Do we have a hotel or are we flying home right now?"

"We have a hotel in Atlanta. Garcia is already there. I believe we should all get some rest before making our way back," Hotch answered.

JJ couldn't help but silently admire the firm grip Hotch always seemed to have on any situation. No matter what happened, Hotch stayed calm and realistic. Like Reid usually did, too, he somehow managed not to get caught up in his emotions. In his profession, this was more than useful, but JJ understood why his wife Haley had divorced him.

She had no idea when he had organized hotel rooms for all of them, or why he had done it himself instead of asking her.

With a smile that was supposed to loosen the situation a little but in fact only looked desperate, JJ said, "Let's get going, then."

They had two SUV's. Gideon, Hotch and Emily took the first one; JJ, Reid and Morgan the second. Morgan offered to drive, and JJ sat in the back with Reid. The result was an awkward silence. Nobody knew what to say. JJ wanted to tell Reid how glad she was that they had found him, that it was over, and how sorry she was for everything that had happened. But she couldn't.

In the front, Morgan felt the same. The silence, the darkness and the dull humming of the engine created an atmosphere he didn't want to destroy. Still, the heated air was heavy with unsaid words of comfort and apology. Morgan was already playing with the thought of turning the radio on, just to break the silence. When he looked in the rearview window, he smiled. Reid had already fallen asleep, his head resting on JJ's shoulder.

JJ was overflowing with emotion while Reid was leaning against her. He seemed incredibly vulnerable, and again, she wanted to hug him tightly. Instead, she softly brushed a streak of long brown hair out of his face. She looked at Morgan's jacket that Reid was wearing and felt another painful twinge in her heart when she realized that the BAU were the first people ever to really take care of the young genius.

JJ had met his mother and, of course, she couldn't blame the mentally ill woman for anything. She clearly loved her son, but it wasn't hard to see that she hadn't been able to give him the affection and protection he needed. He had taken care of her instead of the other way round.

Ignoring any protocol, she carefully put her arm around Reid's shoulders. This funny, incredibly intelligent lovable young man did not deserve what had happened to him over the last two days. She pulled him tighter and softly laid her head onto his. She suddenly had the urge to just keep him as close as possible, and she wanted to give him all the comfort she had to offer.


	2. Hour

**I really wanted to wait with this so I could increase my audience by regularly updating, but I just couldn't resist. I know this is ridiculously short, but at least it's sweet. Reid needs a hug so badly, and JJ and Morgan are the best friends in the world.**

**I am currently working on chapter four. Tell me what you think, guys?**

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A few minutes later, Morgan stopped the car in a parking lot in front of an average-looking hotel. It wasn't very big, but the clean beige walls and the warmly lit windows seemed unbelievably inviting.

JJ carefully pulled her arm back and pushed Reid into an upright position again as softly as she could. She knew how awkward Reid tended to be around women, herself being no exception, and she wanted to spare him the experience of waking up on her shoulder. He really didn't need that kind of embarrassment right now.

Before JJ could do anything else, Morgan appeared outside Reid's window. He opened the door and tapped the younger man's arm.

"Hey, Reid. Wake up, Kid."

Reid flinched, immediately opened his eyes, and for a second his face was a mask of terror. Then he seemed to remember that he wasn't on the graveyard anymore, and he relaxed. JJ cringed with sympathy. What had Tobias done to her friend in the time they hadn't seen the two on the screens?

From the look on Morgan's face, JJ could tell that he was thinking the same. Frowning, he said, "We're at the hotel. Come on, let's go in."

Reid nodded and got out of the SUV. The awkward silence from the car returned as they slowly made their way to the entrance of the building. JJ tried to ignore Reid's terrible limp and not think about the barbaric torture that had caused it. Two times, he staggered, and Morgan wordlessly caught him.

The hotel lobby was empty when they entered. JJ wasn't surprised. How many other people had to save their friends from sadistic religious fanatics suffering from dissociative identity disorder at three o'clock in the morning? Lovely job she had.

Morgan went up to the reception desk. The woman behind it had been reading in a magazine. It was obvious that she was delighted to see someone like Derek Morgan in the middle of the night.

"We're agents Reid, Jareau and Morgan. Our boss already arranged everything for us; we would just need the keys." 

A little disappointed that Morgan didn't say anything else, the receptionist handed over two keys. "It's two double rooms. Breakfast is tomorrow from seven to nine-thirty," she added.

JJ was slightly annoyed. She didn't want to think about anything else tonight, she just wanted a to put a cool, clean pillow over her head. Didn't they have single rooms?

"How do you guys wanna do it?", she asked Morgan and Reid with faked cheerfulness.

Remembering JJ's caring, protective behavior from the car, Morgan said, "I don't really care, you two can share a room if you want to. I can always ask my baby girl to come over." He smirked.

"Actually I wouldn't mind being alone," Reid joined the conversation. Morgan's expression immediately went back to concerned. Of course, Reid had never really been one for too much social contact, but even in this situation?

"Why?", he asked, frowning.

Reid shrugged slightly. "I- I guess I would just like some time on my own?", he tried.

Morgan forced himself to relax. "Okay, then you go and get some rest. And don't you worry about breakfast, sleep as long as you want. Alright?"

Gratefully, Reid nodded and they left the lobby. The hotel didn't even have an elevator, but their rooms were on the ground floor anyway. JJ and Morgan, who had already left them and was probably going to spend the night with his "baby girl" Garcia, had room number three. Reid's room, number fourteen, was right across from theirs. The hallway was narrow but warmly lit, the carpet old but soft.

Under different circumstances, Reid would have actually liked the place, he thought while unlocking the door.


	3. Night

**For all the nice people that have reviewed this so far. Evelyn McFarland, jugglergirl, Emmy73CriminalMinds, JustAnotherUnsuB, Amandaaaaah08, Margaret Elizabeth Hotchner - you're all awesome. As well as the lovely people who faved this. This one is a little longer than the second one. Hope you like it.**

**Reviews keep me going :)**

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Like the rest of the hotel, his room was old-fashioned and everything had a slightly used look to it, but it was clean and looked very inviting.

It all seemed eerily surreal to Reid. One second he was digging his own grave and shooting people, and merely a moment later he was here in this comfortable bedroom, taking a shower and going to sleep. Just a normal day.

Reid had no idea how to process all this information, these new feelings. He was used to being the fastest one when it came to mental abilities, but this was so different from everything. Nobody had ever really taught him how to deal with things emotionally. Neither had his mother, nor Hotch, nor Gideon. Reid broke problems down to math and science, but this?

He didn't know how to feel. He was pretty sure about how he had felt over the last two days – terrified, scared to death, desperate. But what now? He knew he should be relieved, and in a way, he was. But what was he going to do when the emotional digesting began? He knew there would be flashbacks and nightmares. He would be irritable, unable to focus and unable to sleep. Classic PTSD.

But right now, Reid just felt tired and lethargic. His mind was like a deep lake, but he couldn't get through the smooth, unsuspicious surface – not yet. Like a machine, he went into the bathroom and took a quick shower, trying to get rid of the dirt and the horrid smell of the fish guts Raphael had burnt. The small suitcase he had packed for their trip to Georgia five days ago had obviously been brought to his room. Running completely on autopilot, he undressed. Just when he was about to put on his pajamas, he felt two small, hard objects in the left pocket of the pants he had worn.

His heart beat faster as he pulled the two bottles of heroin out.

He noticed that his hands were shaking. The clear liquid seemed to smile at him invitingly. This is crazy, he thought. He was a federal agent, he was the_ good guy_. He needed to get rid of this poison. But where? He couldn't exactly throw it in the bin, could he? What if somebody saw it there? Maybe he could just keep it. Only until he'd figured out what to do with it, of course. And not a second longer.

Carefully, he put the two bottles into his messenger bag. Not a second longer.

A few minutes later he was lying under the white lavender-scented sheets of his bed, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't turned off the dim light on the right bedside table – a luxury he usually didn't allow himself, but at the moment he felt too tired to care. So, he didn't like the darkness. What was there to it?

"_I'm not weak."_

"_I know, honey."_

The memory made him shiver as if somebody had poured cold water down his back. It was still so clear and vivid, and he silently cursed his brain for it. Of course he had always remembered scenes of his childhood. But it had never felt as real as it had yesterday, and it was still burnt into his retinas as if he had actually seen it and not hallucinated due to a mixture of painkillers and psychedelics.

He rubbed his eyes and rolled onto his side. Please, don't let the insomnia start just yet, he silently begged. He hadn't slept in three days, and he wanted to feel better tomorrow, not worse. He wanted to be fine enough to make the others believe he was able to do his job. For him, there was nothing worse than being thought weak.

Tobias' face had looked so young and innocent after Reid had shot him. Freed of Charles and Raphael, Tobias was nothing but a little boy. It wasn't his fault. Through the fog of pain and heroin, it hadn't been that easy to see, but now Reid was sure. Tobias couldn't be blamed. His team? Never. JJ? Not in a billion years.

Himself, then? After all, he had split up with JJ. He had actually been that stupid.

But if _this _were the price of stupidity, Reid thought, their team would constantly have to save his old classmates from some seriously whacked sadists.

The only thing that could be blamed was a goddamned mental illness. Just the way it had always been for him.

Reid didn't want to think anymore. Instead, he began to focus on the pain in his body. There was his foot - completely covered in bruises and small wounds where the flesh had burst under Charles' vicious strikes. Secondly, his stomach ached, seemingly unhappy that it had not been fed in three days. His chest hurt as well, his ribs protesting against every too-deep breath because of the forceful CPR Tobias had given him, saving his life after Charles had almost taken it.

_The CPR, _he remembered. _I was actually _dead_ for over a minute. And it felt so great. _

If you looked at it like a scientist - the way Reid looked at most things - maybe calling an ambulance wouldn't have been the worst idea. _After all, my heart actually stopped beating. My lungs stopped breathing, my brain stopped receiving oxygen. _Instead of horrified, Reid found himself thrilled at the thought. He was a man of thought, not of action, and up until now he had felt strangely detached from his body, as if it was nothing but a machine that could be satisfied with large amounts of coffee. 

His head was throbbing on every side from the many blows it had sustained.

But the worst pain came from the inside of his right elbow. He didn't bother looking at it, didn't want to see the pink little holes in his skin. They felt hot and cold at the same time, itching and burning and demanding more. He covered them with his left hand.

"Stop," he whispered into the warm air, "stop, please just stop…"


	4. Morning

**Okay, here the fourth chapter in celebration of the upcoming second episode of season seven, "Proof". **

**I personally think this one's a little weird. That happens when I write at different times of the day… In the morning, the dialogues get too funny/sarcastic, and then I have to add some crazy melodrama late in the evening. Anybody else know that feeling?**

**Chapter five is going to take a while now, because I haven't even started it yet… (usually I start uploading a story when I have at least two chapters ready in storage.) But it will come, rest assured.**

**Also, I am beginning to think that this story doesn't **_**really **_**have a plot xD… It's mostly hugging and talking. But I like it.**

**You do, too? Take the time and write me a tiny little review. I love you all.**

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It was five thirty in the morning when JJ was woken by a knock on her door. For a second, she wanted to jump up, get dressed and get into her car to drive to the BAU headquarters, then she realized that they were still in Georgia. Groaning, she took a look at the clock on her cell phone, wondering why on earth someone would wake her that early. It was a fact that was often dismissed in the FBI, but people _did _in fact need sleep to function properly.

She got up and tugged at her pajamas to make them look a little less disarranged. She wasn't surprised when she saw Reid's weary face through the tiny glass window in the door. With a sigh, she unlocked it, thinking to herself, _he of all people should get some sleep. _

"Spence. What is it?", she asked, sounding sleepy but not unfriendly.

"I…" He hesitated. His face looked even paler in the automatically activated light of the corridor. "I couldn't sleep. I just wanted to see if you were awake, too."

"I was," JJ lied, so he wouldn't feel guilty about waking her. "Come in."

Awkwardly, he entered her room. His pajamas were plain, long-sleeved and brown, and he had put on a beige cardigan. His feet were bare like JJ's, and she was glad the light of her bedside lamp was dim enough to hide the horrible bruises that covered one of them. His longish hair was messy, but it looked clean and soft, like it had just been washed. _Really, he took a shower?_ _Why can't the poor thing just go to sleep?_

"Where's Morgan?", Reid asked, looking around.

"He went over to Penelope's room as soon as we came here, unsurprisingly." She smirked slightly, and Reid forced a little smile.

JJ went over to the double bed again and sat down on it, wrapping up in her still-warm blanket. When she noticed Reid still standing in the middle of her room, she gesticulated him to come over, too.

She realized just how tired he had to be when he didn't even hesitate to sit down on the other side of the bed, with less than three feet between them. He took the blanket that would have been Morgan's and wrapped up in it the same way JJ had done with hers.

The sat next to each other, backs against the wooden back plate of the bed, Reid resting his chin on his knees, JJ resting her elbows on hers.

"So," she said after a few moments of warm, cozy silence. "Two hours of sleep in three days, huh?"

"Make that one hour for me. Plus one or two minutes of technical death." If that had been supposed to be a joke, Reid had miserably failed at it - his voice was as bitter as vinegar.

"Spence?", JJ asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"I am _so _sorry."

He was silent for a moment, then he whispered, "It wasn't your fault."

Just like he had when they had found him yesterday.

"I should have been there with you. I shouldn't have split up with you. I can't tell you how goddamn sorry I am," she continued, almost pleadingly.

"I shouldn't have suggested it in the first place." His voice was quiet and hoarse. "I won't let you blame yourself." They were the words of a strong man, but JJ heard something beneath them, something that told her Reid was everything but strong right now. Of course, if anyone had the strength to get through this, it was him - he had practically looked after himself since he'd been six years old, and God only knew what the older students had done to the child prodigy in high school - but JJ just felt like something was broken.

"Are you gonna be alright?", she asked weakly. She was a media liaison, she had _studied _talking to people at a university, and yet she couldn't express what she really wanted to say.

"I don't know," Reid confessed.

"I mean… the, you know, the heroin..."

He looked at her with what would have been utter surprise in the face of a well-rested person. There was fear in his eyes. "You know?"

"Emily and me talked to Tobias' NA sponsor," she said. "He told us. He - I mean, Tobias… he gave you some, didn't he? That's what the profile said. We never… saw it, though."

Reid looked down at his long, slender fingers. "I didn't want it. I never asked for it."

"Oh, I know that, Spence," she said, putting an arm around his thin shoulders. She felt so sorry for him that if he hadn't been sitting next to her, she would have simply started weeping. Why him?

_If Hankel gave him the drug, he probably did it more than once. And now Spence hasn't had anything for about twelve hours. _

Before she could help it, her eyes noticed the sweat on the young man's forehead, and the way his arms hugged his knees so tightly, controlling a barely noticeable shaking of his hands. 

JJ shivered with sympathy for her friend and moved a little closer to him until she could actually feel the warmth radiating off his skin. She didn't know a lot about withdrawal symptoms, but since he had only been with Hankel for two days, she hoped that he would be better by midday.

His skin really seemed disconcertingly warm. "Are you sure you're okay? You feel like you may have a fever," she commented cautiously. Like she had feared, he didn't take that very well.

"Will you stop asking me that?", he said, his voice not growing louder, but a little sharper. "I told you, I don't know, alright? I just… don't know." He rubbed his eyes and left his hands on his face, massaging his temples.

"Sorry," he whispered a few moments later.

JJ didn't allow herself to be thrown off track by his little outburst. Instead, she put her second arm around him and pulled him into a tight embrace. His fingers stopped moving and he was still for a moment, but then he relaxed.

It was awkward because they were technically sitting next to each other, and there was JJ's long hair, the two blankets and their pajamas everywhere.

She buried her head on his shoulder, fighting bravely against the tears wanting to fall from her eyes. The beige fabric of his true-Reid-style cardigan smelled of clean clothes and wool. Nothing about it was particularly standing out, but for that exact reason it was quite pleasant. Similarly, the shower gel he had used was faint and non-intrusive, but nevertheless tinted the note of his hot, dry skin with a touch of crispness. JJ felt his shaky, irregular breath on the top of her head.

"Hey," she said, pulling back eventually. "I know you're gonna be alright, okay? And whatever happens, we're all here for you. And even if it looks like you're alone, you… You have two remember that somewhere, there will always be us, your team, that did everything they could to… to save you… And I just want to you to know that we, all of us, we care about you so much. We will never let anything like this happen again and…" Her voice cracked as she couldn't hold back the tears anymore.

"God, I'm so sorry. I'm not the one who should cry," she said, annoyed at her own weakness.

"Just… let me know if there is anything you need?"

"Actually, there is one thing. Could you maybe make us some of that instant coffee I know you always take with you?", he asked with slight smile.

It was so peculiar to him; JJ couldn't stop herself from laughing. It was watery and desperate, but he had managed to make her feel better already. She untangled herself from the blanket and got up.

"If that makes you happy. But you know, there comes a time when all the caffeine in the world won't make up for missed hours of sleep anymore."

"Let's hope that day shall never arrive," he said. JJ felt admiration for this man who was strong enough to at least try to regain some of his humor, even if there was nothing funny about the situation.

"Oh, and JJ?", he added. "I really don't need anything else. And that is because of you guys. I couldn't wish for better friends."

Attempting his strategy as well, she answered, "Just when I was going to apologize for the melodrama."

She disappeared into the bathroom and filled the two hotel-provided glasses with instant coffee powder and hot tap water. Reid took the rather pathetic drink gratefully when she re-entered the bedroom.

"To friendship," he announced before taking a sip.

"To friendship," she repeated, waiting for the liquid to cool down.

She new the light atmosphere was a farce, but she decided to enjoy it for another while. She knew that he wasn't really ready for jokes yet, and she knew that he simulated this happiness and sense of overcoming for her.

Or was he also trying to fool himself?

The shadows in his face were just too deep, the circles below his eyes too dark, the pain in his honey-colored eyes to fresh.

The shaking of his hands and the sweat on his forehead just a little bit too noticeable.

But she had meant what she had said. She had sworn herself to be there for him forever, long before Tobias Hankel, even before he had asked her out on his twenty-fourth birthday. And she knew Morgan felt the same way, and so did the rest of the team.

He was going to be alright.


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